The other one unleashed
by McGremlin
Summary: An unleashed au where werehog has a mind of its own, Sonic doesn't remember anything that happens during the night, Tails doesn't get to sleep, and the author has no idea what they're doing. Updates every month (i make absolutely no promises tho).
1. everything goes great (for eggman)

Space: the final frontier.

A peaceful place, though that was no doubt attributed to the fact that sound usually has a tad bit of difficulty traveling through the void and the void usually is a very difficult place to harbor a battle ship. Usually.

Which made the battleship in space, courtesy of the Eggman Empire, a rather concerning anomaly indeed. Even more so when considering that it's leader, Ivo Robotnik, has an obsessive aesthetic for world domination and amusement parks, which had a tendency of coming hand in hand.

So luckily for everyone else on Mobius, a hero known as Sonic (or "that blue bastard" depending on who you were talking to) made it his job to stop the mad scientist. Which was why he was on that very same battleship, cocky smirk and all.

Sirens wailed in the background (somehow), as the deck of the battleship filled with robots, all of them with their guns trained on the hedgehog. Well, they didn't really get much further than that as the blue blur sped through them, causing impossible explosions as he destroyed them in his path. Bullets followed his footsteps with blinding flashes from the turrets in front of him as he continued forward. Seeing that his robots were stopping the hedgehog about as effectively a wad of cotton candy, Eggman activated his mech to face the hero head on.

"Why you little…" Eggman growled under his breath as his missiles and bullets failed to meet their target, letting the hedgehog continued onwards without so much of a scratch. "You're not getting away!"

Contrary to the fact, Sonic had very much been 'getting away' and would have succeeded in doing so had he expected the mech's arm to stretch after him. Unfortunately, he didn't, and was only allowed a small "Wuh-oh" before being bodily grabbed and yanked back in the mech's grasp.

As Eggman examined his captured prize (mainly out of shock that things were actually somewhat going as he planned), his nemesis only gave him a smirk as a warning, before the Chaos Emeralds flashed into existence around him. The mad man hastily tried to smother the hedgehog, and for his efforts was rewarded with Super Sonic blowing off both of the mech's arms with his transformation alone. Said hedgehog also promptly punctured a hole through said mech's torso, and Eggman took it as a good time to bail.

"Uh-oh, time to go!"

He ejected his pod from the mech as he tried to get a head start, metal doors slamming shut behind him in a seemingly desperate attempt to stall the now golden hedgehog. It didn't do much, as the hedgehog was right behind his heels. Eggman paid little attention to him as he hurried into a metallic room, tumbling out of his pod and across the floor.

Seconds later, Sonic flew in with all his golden splendor.

"S-Sonic!" Eggman stuttered. "I-I'm sorry! Really! L-look, go easy on me! I'll turn over a new leaf, I swear!"

"Well, this is new," Sonic replied with a smirk. "Showing remorse, Eggman? If you played nice I wouldn't have to break all your toys."

He was given no time to react as Eggman pressed a button tight in his grip. Sonic had barely registered the probes folding out of the floor, moving far too late before being snatched up by electrical bounds. He glared at Eggman as the madman cackled and was elevated to a control panel. He screamed as his binds went from really inconvenient to extremely painful, only vaguely noticing the chaos emeralds that flew out of him had become dull and lifeless. Sonic gave one last struggle before slumping, and his world went dark.

With the blue hero now unconscious, Eggman turned all of his attention to the lazer blaster just outside the room. With a press of a button and a victorious cry of "Fire!", a violet beam cut through the vacuum of space. The madman couldn't help but feel awestruck as the planet seemed to shatter as if it were an extremely large ceramic globe.

Nobody noticed the now purple electricity turning and warping the hero of Mobius, his fur becoming darker, his gloves being shredded by claws, his teeth sharpening to fangs. And deep in his mind, a presence was forming, one that gradually shifted the hedgehog's conscience to the side.

In the place where Sonic had been, a new being was born.

Now imagine that you've just been created and your brain decided to give you a crash course on the basics of sentient existence right then and there; how to think, how to rudimentarily observe your surroundings, how a few of your bodily functions work, etc. So, you decide to make use of your newfound skills.

You wake up onto...something. You mentally label it as cold, hard, and generally uncomfortable to lay on. So you try to get up, with minimal success, and now had one arm half bent in an aborted attempt to push yourself up from the ground and your other arm supporting the rest of your weight with the forearm serving as a base. You open your eyes, your subconscious noting that you were in a metallic room with three metallic thingamabobs surrounding your general vicinity and a huge window to the void just at the end of your peripheral vision. Your conscious, however, was currently being assaulted with the visual of a person with the proportions of bowling ball with chopsticks as limbs and a grape for a head. And while you're at it, what are grapes? What is a bowling bowl? What are chopsticks? And more importantly, in fact, most importantly, what do any of them have to do with the person standing in front of you?

Essentially in a nutshell, this being had woken up in an unfamiliar place, whose brain was make references to unfamiliar objects, and was generally unfamiliar with this whole "existing" business. Needless to say, it was confused.

It wasn't given much time to contemplate its confusion as the person in front of him proceeded to interrupt it's train of thought.

"Ah, Sonic. That's a good look for you. Festive!" The being flinched as the man slammed his hand on a button on his control panel. "So long, friend." The man said mockingly, and suddenly the being felt the very air itself pulling him into the void. Its claws gouged the floor before its grip finally failed it, leaving it free-falling towards the now shattered planet below.


	2. did it hurt when you fell from heaven

The first truly coherent thought the being had was 'What's that big blue thing?'

Up to this point it had mainly been looking at the inky darkness surrounding it and marveling at the glimmering white spots scattered throughout just about everywhere, but it's vision was quickly engulfed by the planet it was falling towards. Upon closer inspection of said planet, it noticed some whites, greens and browns, as well as glowing hints of red and purple just beyond the cracked outer layer.

The being decided that 'beautiful' (whatever that meant) was the best way to describe the view.

Not before long, however, the peacefully drifting white had gone from being below it to being above, and the being started its second coherent thought.

'That's a lot more blue. It's not glowing like it used to back when I was above the white stuff. Oh, and there's a spec of green. Wow, it's getting pretty big now-AJDHSKSHDK'

It was at that point that the being hit the ground. And received a very, VERY intimate lesson about the concept of fall damage. A small part of its mind noted, with mild dissatisfaction, that it was very difficult to think coherently when in extreme pain.

It was instantaneously drowned out by the being's louder thoughts of 'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH' and 'OH SWEET CHAOS WHY WAS I CREATED' along with thoughts of 'SOMEONE PLEASE MAKE IT STOP' mixed in for a little flavor. Not that said being's thoughts were actually that understandable but the basic intent was there.

It hurt too much to stay still. It hurt to much to move. And it was extremely lucky (or unlucky depending on one's perspective) that no one was around to see it as it was kind of a pathetic sobbing mess of agony at the moment and it would stay that way until dawn. And as the sun rose, its conscience and body slowly gave way to their original inhabitant. Thus there Sonic the hedgehog was. Covered in the morning dew and laying in an unusually large imprint on the ground.

When Sonic first opened his eyes, his first thought was 'Huh. Don't remember heading here to sleep.' He stood up and yawned, stretching to work out the kinks that usually came with sleeping on the ground. Then his memories came rushing back. 'Wait a tic, I was fighting Eggman in his battleship. In space! How did I get here? And where'd the emeralds go?' And that last question was especially important, considering that he still hasn't beaten Eggman yet. He looked out at the ocean with a grimace. 'Oh Chaos, I hope they didn't fall into the water. Welp, I might as well start looking for them now'. With his task in mind, he shook off his drowsiness and went to work.

He zipped around the 'Island? Peninsula? Man, it's too early to think.' and found the emeralds, fortunately all of them nearby. Though he did notice, with growing concern, that all of them were lacking their usual glow. 'Well, that's not good. Ugh, Knuckles is gonna kill me.' With a sigh, he stashed the gems into his quills, trying to sort out his thoughts as well as figure out his next move.

"Okay, so I just woke up...somewhere. Now that I think about it, I don't really know how long I was out for. What happened, what happened...oh, right. I was at the battleship, fought Eggman, went super?...Yeah, yeah, went super, got captured, uuuuhhh" Sonic fell silent, wracking his mind for any recollection beyond that point but was only coming up blank. He sat down, ignoring the dampness of the grass and feeling just a tad bit lost, before suddenly perking up and snapping his fingers.

"Tails! I can ask him if he knows anything."

He reached for the communicator Tails had him kept on his ankle. Or at least it should be on his ankle. After feeling around in his socks, shoes, and quills; Sonic heaved an even bigger sigh. 'And now Tails is gonna kill me too.' Not seeing much of a point in staying where he was, he hopped onto his feet and headed towards town without sparing the island a second thought.

He could only hope that he'd have enough rings left to use a payphone.

(A few hours earlier)

Tails sighed as he update the Tornado-1. Now usually he would be alongside his older brother Sonic, but as of now his plane wasn't exactly suitable for space flight, and chaos control was unpredictable when more than one person was involved (especially for an ametuer whose only experience with it was less of a controlled teleport and more of a 'CHAOSJUSTGETMEOUTTATHISCASPULE').

As much as he hated it, all Tails could do was wait. It wasn't that he was worried, Sonic did have all seven chaos emeralds on him after all, but he was feeling kind of useless. Pushing those thoughts aside, he climbed into the cockpit and fiddled with the controls. With a mechanical whir, the biplane's wings transformed into a X-shape, before leveling back into its original form.

Smiling in satisfaction, he hopped out of the plane and yawned. The update probably wasn't worth an all-nighter but without anyone around, it was really easy to lose track of time.

He slowly trudged up the stairs to his room, leaning heavily on the rail that was...trembling? Tails frowned in confusion.

And then the world shook.

Adrenaline chased away any drowsiness he had as his loose hold on the rails turned into a vice like grip. He let out a panicked cry as the lights went out, multiple appliances beeping in discontent of the sudden lack of electricity. He could hear shelves falling in the rooms around him, and he knew that had he headed to his room faster, more likely than not he would've been crushed by the debris. And everything just kept shaking.

And then, nothing.

With shuddering breaths, Tails clumsily stumbled back into his garage. He shifted through now broken computers before coming across his Miles Electric. It was one of his earlier inventions, although its graphics were atrocious, it was very sturdy and Tails was not feeling picky at the moment.

He booted it up and tried to contact Sonic's communicator. His heart plummeted when he saw two simple words in the middle of an empty screen.

NO SIGNAL


	3. youre gonna want some flex tape for that

"Huh, nice town." Was the first thing that popped into Sonic's head. It looked like an idyllic coastal getaway, with clean white buildings and a rustic aesthetic. Had it not been for the 'coastal' part, Sonic would've definitely visited it in the past.

Sadly, he wasn't here as a tourist.

He zip to the pay phone and fed it his rings before dialing a rarely used, yet faithfully remembered number. He tapped his foot impatiently, then perked up at the sound of Tails's voice-

"Hi, this is Tails. I'm currently busy at the moment. If you want to buy extreme gear, please visit my website. Otherwise, please send a text and I'll call you back later."

...mail. 'Should I call him back later? He might be in the middle of something.' Sonic's fingers hovered over the keypad. 'Then again he's probably looking for me, plus I gotta tell him I haven't beaten Eggman yet, sooo…' He tried again. Another voicemail. He tried again. Another voicemail. 'Are my calls just not getting through?' He tried one more time.

"WILL YOU QUIT CALLING ME FOR FU-"

"Woah, language!" Sonic quickly swapped the phone to his non-ringing ear.

"Sonic?"

"Yep. Wh-"

"Where are you?! Are you alright?!" Sonic frowned at Tails's frantic tone. 'Chaos, how long was I out for?'

"Don't worry I'm fine. Not too sure where I am tho." Sonic said in a placating manner. Not that it seemed to do much. Sounds of frenzied shuffling and muffled curses came from the other end.

"That's fine, that's fine," Considering that Tails's voice shot up five octaves Sonic knew that things were most definitely NOT fine. "Area code says your in Apotos. I'll head there right now. Wait for me at Windmill Isle." Luckily, given Sonic's line of work he knew his geography very well. 'Apotos, huh? That's somewhere in the Mediterranean. A little far from home but doable.'

"Cool, and you're at your workshop, right?"

"Yes, but-"

"Then I'll meet you there!" 'If I push myself, I can get there in three hours. Then I can see what's gotten Tails so strung up.'

"You can't! The planet split apart!" Sonic blinked. '...what's that supposed to mean?'

"Wait...what? Is- Is there a war going on or something?"

"No, I mean the planet's literally in pieces right now and, ugh, trust me, you'll see. Just, stay where you are and I'll come pick you up." Sonic heard the muffled thumps of footsteps before the characteristic sound of a plane propeller.

"Wait what's-" a loud click signaled that Tails had hung up. "...going on?"

He distractedly hung up the phone and started jogging at a brisk pace of 300 miles per hour. Although unintentional, Tails left Sonic with a lot of questions and very few answers. 'And I haven't been able to tell him anything. Plus the emeralds look like they're completely dead, and I still don't know what happened in space. Not to mention that cryptic message he gave. Unless...I was out for so long that Eggman already conquered half the planet. Is that he meant when he said the planet split apart?'

He huffed, shaking his head. 'Thinking like that isn't gonna help me. Besides,' he thought with a smirk, 'I've been able to deal with everything Eggman's thrown at me so far, I'm sure I can deal with whatever's going on now.'

He sped through the town, falling into a comfortable rhythm of dodging buildings and smashing the occasional group of 'bots. He lightly hummed as the wind blew away his worries. He sped up as the towns faded away into mountains, rushing towards a...glowing canyon? 'That's new.'

He gradually slowed down as he approached, the rift seeming to grow as he got closer. Curiosity lead him to the edge and with little else to do he looked down.

He knew that without a doubt that this was the deepest canyon he had ever seen, stretching down impossibly far before hovering over viscous burning ball of red. Beyond that, the jagged edges of what was once a continent on the other side of the world, and further yet, the void of space. It looked as if Mobius itself had been shattered, the only thing keeping it from completely collapsing was the fragile will of the gods.

_The planet's literally in pieces._

At that moment, his carefree attitude felt like it had been seared away into ash.

'_The planet's literally in pieces_. Oh Chaos- the planet's literally in pieces. How am I gonna fix this? Can this even be fixed? What am I gonna do?' "What am I gonna do?"

At that moment as he sank to his knees, all that Sonic could feel was utterly, terrifyingly small.

(Hours earlier)

Tails bit back a scream of frustration as he fought to get the generator to work. The earthquake had pretty much taken out every powerline and a good amount of the plumbing as well. So of COURSE that meant that the basement would flood and of COURSE the generator would end up getting wet. He flinched as the thing gave a sudden bright spark, before sticking on another piece of his quickly dwindling amount of electrical tape.

He stepped back from the generator. As much as he would've loved to buy a new one, the nearest city was in a state of emergency and with his biplane stuck in his garage he was effectively grounded. 'And of COURSE all my towels buried in the debris.' Tails thought bitterly, 'Why wouldn't they be?' So there wasn't much else he could do except lay on the ground and wait for the generator's components to air dry.

"krssshhhh-its completely unprecedented! Worldwide earthquakes have registered a 15.6 on the Richter scale! Government aid is-krsshhh"

Tails tiredly gazed at the Miles Electric as it struggled to connect to the local radio, his mind idly wandering about. '15.6. Huh. Didn't someone say that if there was a quake bigger than ten on the Richter scale the planet would literally fall apart?' He mentally paused as he closed his eyes, then suddenly sat up.

On a whim he switched the device from the radio to real time satellite images. And stared.

He gave a slightly hysterical laugh.

After all, who woulda known that rumor was actually right?

Gremlin: hewwo y'all. tis i, the creator of this train wreak of a story.

First of all, a genuine thanks to: WhatIsThisDefiance, Mitha Sentro, and aboqe. I have no idea what you see in this story but I really appreciate the support.

Second thing: as you guys can probably tell, i don't know how to do the grey line thingy as figuring it out is just too much for my single remaining brain cell. so if any of you are okay with teaching me how to do it, it'd be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading!


	4. aggressive trumpet sounds

Sonic stayed at the edge looking down for quite a while. Sure, it probably wouldn't help him emotionally, as it pretty much was a constant reminder of 'oh yeah, that planet that you're supposed to protect currently resembles a giant broken vase'.

Well, in his defense, it isn't everyday that one could peer down into the very core of Mobius itself.

He stood up and took a deep breath. 'Welp, as much as I'd like to stay where I am, me moping around isn't going to help anyone.' He thought sardonically. Although Sonic very much still didn't know how to fix the planet, nor how it got broken in the first place, he headed back towards Apotos. With luck, he could ask the locals and start piecing together what the heck was going on.

He did not notice that he completely forgot he was supposed to wait for Tails on Windmill Isle.

(Meanwhile)

Tails marveled at the intactness of Apotos, as well as the unfairness of the universe. As it turned out, those who were closest to the fault line were affected the most, and lo and behold, his workshop was so close to a fault line that it could be sued for a restraining order.

Why was he in the city of Apotos? Because genius of hindsight that he was, he forgot to tell Sonic when he would arrive, and Sonic, being the paragon of patience that he was, was very much not present.

Tails knew that he was being rather unreasonably impatient himself, but let's see how patient anyone else would be if thousands of dollars worth of important tech had been crushed under half of their house.

But more importantly, in fact most importantly, he had found a lead. Professor Pickle, from Spagonia University. His research on the Gaia manuscripts were eerily relevant to what was currently going on, and if what happened to Station Square and Soleanna had taught Tails anything, it was this: you should absolutely check if the Armageddon you're going through involves a god.

So here he was, asking locals if they had seen a blue hedgehog (some of them said yes) and if they knew where he went (all of them said no). As the sun set, he walked deeper into the city, wondering whether he should pull another all nighter to try to find his brother or find a motel and call it a day.

The monsters that suddenly appeared everywhere ended up making that decision for him.

(Meanwhile)

The laws of physics state that objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Even if said object loses consciousness while in motion.

Which is why a certain werehog woke up to find itself tumbling rather spectacularly across the street in a way only achievable from tripping while running a few hundred miles per hour.

Unsurprisingly, the first word it ever said was "Ow."

It slowly got onto its feet, wobbling dangerously as it's body tried to figure out which way gravity was going before hesitantly settling on the direction of down. It gingerly rubbed its head as it looked up to see multiple expressions of fear and mild sympathy.

Oblivious to the awkward silence, it glanced around with open curiosity and confusion.

It then proceeded to walk up to the nearest person, which happened to be a man sobbing at an ice cream stand.

"Excu-"

"It's hopeless!" The man cried, effectively cutting the pseudo-Dark Gaian off.

"Uh, what?"

"The whole planet has split apart! We're doomed!" The man continued, waving his arms before slumping down into silent sobs. The former hedgehog patted the man's back in an attempt to comfort him, then hesitantly stepped away when it didn't do anything to help his mood. It looked around for guidance and was only given a helpless shrug from one of the locals.

"Hope you feel better soon…?" It said to the ice cream vendor, before slowly turning away and walking into the city.

It hummed along to the background music as it strolled through the plaza. It didn't get far as an old couple suddenly started chatting with it.

"Did you see a two-tailed fox? He was right here just a minute ago." The pseudo-dark Gaian blinked as it's brain tried to figure out what a fox is.

"No, why?" It asked.

"Mnzts… Sssgrt!" The old woman replied.

"Uh, sorry, could you repeat that?"

"She said that he was looking for you." The old man translated.

"Oh. Do you know where he went?"

"Yep, he headed into the city. He had big, bushy tails swingin' all around. You can't miss him."

"Okay. Thanks."

It continued onwards with an easy going stride, then stiffened when it passed through the arch. The once cheerful atmosphere started feeling a little ominous. It hurried up its pace, hair raising on the back of its neck. For a moment it paused, considering heading back into the plaza, but a part of it knew it couldn't turn back now.

With a wary grimace, it pressed on.

It shuddered as its footsteps rang out in the empty streets, the silence deafening-

It jolted as music suddenly suddenly blasted around it, before frowning in confusion.

"Who'd be playing jazz at this hour?"

It didn't get much further than that as it proceeded to suddenly get jumped by a group of what were apparently glowing shadow demons. It frantically squirmed out of the dog pile it was under, scrambling for the nearest exit only to slam into a smoky purple barrier. It dazedly turned around, whimpering as it found itself completely surrounded.

Pressing itself flat against the barrier, it desperately searched for a way to escape this madness. It's breath hitched in its throat as it felt itself falling through the barrier.

"Whu-" it wheezed as the air was knocked out it's lungs, propping itself onto its elbows and dumbly stared at the monsters clawing at it from the other side of the barrier. It quickly snapped out of its shock and booked it, not slowing down until the jazz had completely faded away to blessed silence. It looked around as it struggled to catch its breath, before heaving a sigh of relief. With those nightmare creatures finally behind it, it can focus on finding whoever was looking for it.

*crack*

It jumped, then relaxed when it realized that it had only stepped on a twig.

It then nearly broke down into tears as jazz music started blasting out around it again.

(Meanwhile)

Tails had thought that he had gotten over his fear of the dark when he was four. But as he cowered behind the wall with literal shadow demons on the other side, he was 99.9% sure that said fear would come back in full swing and stay for at least the next few months or so. Peeking over his current hiding place, he confirmed that yes, the nightmare creatures are still there and oh chaos is there another one?!

Tails mentally tallied the monsters, confirming that there was indeed a newcomer and crap crap crap its heading straight to where he was hiding why'd there have to be an invisible wall preventing him from flying-

He squeaked as the new monster hopped the wall effortlessly and landed right next to him and a mildly hysterical part of his mind noted that hey would you look at that even the nightmare creatures will end up staring at your tails-

A loud roar then derailed the rest of his train of thought, causing both the nightmare creature and him to jolt in unison, wearing twin expressions of terror. Tails yelped as he was suddenly yanked out of the air and tucked under the nightmare creature's arm, his jaw dropping as said creature then proceeded to push the barrier apart as if it were stage curtain.

Quickly figuring out what Tails' unexpected savior wanted to do, he latched onto its arm sped off with it in tow, only slowing down after the two of them were five miles or so away from the hostile monsters. He gently landed, before wincing as the monster beside him collapsed onto the ground.

"Sorry, I forget most people aren't used to this speed."

"It-guh-it's fine." Tails' eyebrows shot up as he hadn't expected a response. And on closer inspection of the creature, it looked more mobian than the other monsters he'd seen. Sure, most mobians didn't have fangs or claws that big or sharp, but other than that it could probably pass as a normal person.

"So, um," the mobian? started, snapping Tails out of his thoughts. "were you looking for me?"

"Er, no. Actually, now that you mention it, have you seen a blue hedgehog by any chance?"

"I don't think so, no. I'll let you know if I do." Tails sighed. 'Two days, two nights, and barely any progress.'

"Thanks." Tails closed his eyes, and after three sleepless nights and two very long days, he fell asleep right on the spot. Had he stayed up just a few minutes more, he would've been able to watch the sun rise.

(The werehog of course instantly passed out the moment the sun rose.)

* * *

ajdndjsj Thank you WhatIsThisDefiance for teaching me how to make horizontal lines. i owe you my mchecking life.

(and of course thank you everyone for coming to read this absolute house fire of a story)


	5. reenacting icarus at 8 in the evening

'I coulda sworn I was closer to town.' Was Sonic's first coherent thoughts. Then he noticed familiar bundle of yellow lying next to him and loudly smacked his forehead. 'Crap, I was suppose to wait for Tails!'

He gently shook the younger mobian awake, who responded with a groan.

"Lemme sleep for just forty more hours."

"No can do, Tails. That's a coma."

"Sounds festive."

"Tails no."

"Tails yes."

"I'll buy you some ice cream." A beat of silence.

"Fiiiiine." Tails whined. Then he suddenly shot up. "SONIC!"

Sonic winced from the volume and second hand whiplash. "Woah, Tails, careful not to throw out your back or something."

Tails stared blankly in response as his body screeched at him for waking up from what he and some college students considered as a decent night's rest and what everyone else considered a 15 minute nap. He then shook off his sleepiness as best as he could before getting onto his feet and proceeded to drag Sonic to his plane that was hopefully still there, explaining everything that happened on the way there.

Well, less of explaining and more of just info-dumping, but Sonic caught the general gist:

There was a huge earthquake yesterday morning

It broke the planet into pieces

This apparently happened before?

Some guy named Professor Pickle has more info on it

With little else to do and Tails practically shoving him into the bi-plane, the duo were off to Spagonia.

(One hour later)

"What do you mean the professor's missing?!" Tails yelled, causing Sonic and the assistant to flinch.

"I-it was a bit before the tremors hit." The man squeaked out. "This old man showed up with a...and a…and a whole pack of robots!" Sonic would usually be amused by the gestures the assistant made. However, any amusement was completely overshadowed by his concern for his uncharacteristically ill-tempered brother.

"Chaos damnit OF COURSE IT WOULD BE EGGMAN!" Tails screeched. Sonic instantly stepped Tail and the assistant before the situation could escalate even more.

"Woah, Tails, not cool!" Sonic said firmly. "You can't just blow up on him, he's trying to help! And swearing like that- What are you? Shadow? You need to calm down!"

"Calm? CALM?! IF YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED SONIC THE PLANET'S FALLING APART!"

Sonic froze, then took time to fully look at Tails, his eyes darting from the kitsune's extremely unkempt fur, manic expression, and the bags under his eyes that were so dark they practically looked like bruises. Tails started to fidget from Sonic's staring and the long silence. Finally, the hedgehog shot him a look.

"When's the last time you actually slept?" Tails groaned and rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't mat-"

Sonic cut him off with a stern glare. "When was the last time you actually slept?"

Tails shrank under Sonic's piercing look. A few more moments of silence passed before the older mobian sighed. He then shot an apologetic smile at the assistant.

"Sorry to bother you, but does this place have any beds?"

"No, not really, but we do have some pillows. Is that okay?"

"Yep, thanks!" Tails started to protest but Sonic quickly shot him down. "Sorry Tails, but I gotta pull the big brother card here. You're not doing anything until you get some shut-eye."

"But we gotta find Eggman!" Sonic started a retort, then paused. His kid brother did have a point.

"Then how about a compromise? _I'll _look for Eggman,while _you_ get some rest."

"Only if I come with you." Tails stubbornly added.

"Only if you sleep in the passenger seat." Sonic shot back without missing a beat.

The two locked eyes, Tails in defiance, Sonic completely unmoving. A few moments passed. Tails broke first.

"...deal."

(Hours later)

Sonic looked over his shoulder once more, making sure that Tails was still actually asleep, before turning forward with a sigh of relief. Looking back, he probably should've voiced the concern he felt before he let Tails drag him to the Tornado. 'At least he's resting now.'

He idly checked the navigation system to make sure he was on course for Mazuri (which seemed pretty close now. It was at most a half-hour away), then watched as the sun slipped behind him as his eyes started to close. 'Wait. What.'

Sonic struggled to keep his eyes open, but his body continued to shut down, much to his terror, as if he had taken a lungful of sleeping gas. He desperately fought to stay awake, not even noticing how the steering wheel warped in his equally warping hands. Then, like the snap of a rubberband stretched too far, Sonic's conscience was replaced by the other inhabitant of his body.

It was jarring, to say the least, for the being whose vision had faded away in a forest just to then suddenly snap open some miles up in the air. Said being also happened to be filled with the inexplicable feeling that it had forcefully shoved someone out of the way and said someone was very, very upset about it.

It turned to look for the person so that it could apologize, but the place it was sitting was a tad too cramped to allow for much movement. With a mild grimace, it tried to wiggle out of its seat, its body accidentally pressing against an inconspicuous button. It was then buffeted by a lot of wind as the glass surrounding it silently folded away.

"Wha-?!" It's turned back at the sound of a familiar voice, and the only warning given to the distracted pseudo dark Gaian and the two tailed fox that something else was wrong was a sharp click of a switch being flipped.

The plane suddenly shot forward like a bullet.

The two of them flew out of their seats, the only thing keeping them from falling into the water below being the werehog's right hand clenched around Tails's leg and its left on the top of the steering wheel.

Because of this unfortunate placement said left grip, the plane was now also doing endless cycle of loop-de-loops like an aerial roller coaster from hell, dragging the both of them in tow and screaming. Tails panickedly flailed his arms before grabbing a fistful of the other's fur and holding on tight.

"LET GO OF MY LEG!"

"SOUNDS LIKE A TERRIBLE IDEA BUT OKAY!"

The pseudo dark Gaian did exactly what it was ordered to do, and with its help Tails crawled across its arms, forced himself into the cockpit, and finally, FINALLY, leveled the plane out and landed very moment he found land to do so.

The both of them shakily exited the plane and collapsed on the ground, the werehog struggling to remember how to breathe and Tails struggling to get his heartbeat down from what was probably 500bpm. For a moment, there was peace.

The werehog cleared its throat. "So, did you manage to find that blue hedgehog?"

The temperature around them seemed to drop a few degrees.

"Yes." Tails forced out through gritted teeth. "But I'm sure you know more than I do, don't you."

"I...what?"

Tails turned to glare at the werehog. "When I fell asleep on that plane, my brother was piloting it. When I woke up, you're there, and he's nowhere to be seen." Both of them stood up, and Tails marched over to it and prodded its chest. "So you better tell what happened to my brother or else!" It blankly looked at him and as the moments ticked by, Tails forced himself to ignore the fact that the other mobian loomed over him by a good two feet.

"I...don't know." Tails took a long look at the other's expression, then pursed his lips. It genuinely looked like the taller mobian was just as lost and confused as he was, if not more. Tails tiredly rubbed his eye and pulled out his Miles Electric, his adrenaline finally wearing off and leaving him feeling drained.

"You know what? How about you come and help me find Professor Pickle, and then I'll fly you back home." The werehog nodded in response, and Tails scanned the area with his device for any underground bases. With a small ping, the base was located and the duo silently trekked to their destination.

…

The werehog looked around in fascination as Tails flew up to get the professor out of the glass dome that was his cell. Initially it had been paying attention to them, but after the professor started talking about sandwiches is was pretty it wouldn't understand them. Then Professor Pickle addressed it.

"And do be sure to collect the contents of that vault before departing."

It looked at the professor, at the vault, then Tails. "Um. How?"

Tails turned towards the professor. "Do you remember how they opened the vault, sir?"

Professor Pickle shook his head. "Unfortunately, I was unconscious at the time."

Tails turned back to the pseudo dark Gaian. "Try turning it to the left." He watched as the being approached the vault door, hoping that the vault would be willing to cooperate, then stared as the taller mobian proceeded to rip the steel door off its hinges. "...I guess that works too." Tails went in, found nothing but a small tube, then gave it to the professor. With that the three of them hurried out of the base.

Once the three of them reached the Tornado, however, Tails realized there was a small problem. "Sorry professor, but I don't think we can all fit."

"No worries, there should be a town around here that we can all head to tomorrow." Tails agreed with the human's sentiment and let him stay in the passenger seat to rest, then sat on the wing and checked for updates. A few moments later, the werehog joined him.

"Sorry you lost your brother again." Tails looked up to see the other mobian guiltily looking down.

"Hm? Oh, no, no it's fine. I should be apologizing for snapping at you." Tails's fingers idly tapped against his Miles Electric, before he slapped his forehead. "Heck, I don't even think I ever introduced myself! Sorry about that." He offered the navy mobian a handshake. "I'm Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails. What's your name?" It paused, its hand hovering over the smaller mobian's as its eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"I...don't know?" Tails blinked.

"What? You forgot your name?" 'Does...does he have amnesia?'

"I don't think I had one to begin with?" Tails starred in response.

"Oh. Huh." Tails looked down in thought, before perking up. "Then maybe I can name you. If you don't mind." He quickly added.

"Yeah, sure, go ahead." Tails smiled in response, before going deep into thought.

"How about…" Tails started, then stood up in alarm as the being suddenly slumped without warning. He hurried over and caught it before it fell off the plane's wing, then speechlessly watched as it was surrounded by a purple mist. As the sun rose and the purple mist cleared, Tails looked on in pure disbelief at his previously missing, currently unconscious brother he now held in his arms.

"Sonic?"

* * *

So it's been two months since my last update and um..._I have no excuses I'm so sorry._ Anyway, I'm replacing the author's note with the actual fifth chapter. If you want to know what it's about, it's basically this: I ran out of motivation. But now I'm back! I'm probably still not going to be able to update this once a week, but I have no intention of abandoning this. Anywho, sorry for the wait, I'll try to update at least once a month, thank you for your patience. Let's continue this car fire!


	6. 99 level of stress

"I PASSED OUT AT THE WHEEL!"

Tails jolted at the sudden yell of his older brother, then fumbled to catch him as he slipped out of his arms. The fox winced as Sonic fell head-first into the sand, then hopped down from the plane wing and hesitantly approached his brother.

"Sonic? Is that you?" Panicked green eyes snapped onto confused blues as owner of the former rushed to meet the owner of the later, the blue blur manically checking for any injuries while babbling as fast as he could run.

"Ohchaosareyouokayidon'tknowwhyijustsuddenlyblackedoutwedidn'tcrashdidwealsowhotheheckisthat?!"

Tails blinked as Sonic's hand suddenly shot up and pointed to the plane, his eyes following the other's finger to discover that the professor had woken up and was watching the chaos unfolding before him.

"That's Professor Pickle, remember? We helped him escape Eggman's base a few moments ago." Tails's worry intensified when Sonic gave him a look that said 'No, no I very much do not what is HAPPENING.'

Said human amiably looked around. "Say, I wonder where that other fellow went."

Sonic went completely still. "Other WHAT?!"

The professor continued and Tails silently decided that the man had to be either extremely oblivious or mildly sadistic. "That big fellow with unusually sharp canines and claws. He was with your yellow friend when I met him."

Tails watched as Sonic's eyes became increasingly wider and decided that now was definitely the time to intervene. "Let's not worry about that for now. So, what happened in the plane? You were yelling about 'passing out' when you first woke up."

Sonic opened his mouth to protest the topic change, but stopped at the sight of Tails's pleading look. He huffed, his foot rapidly tapping the ground as he started calming down. "I think I just blacked out mid flight. Dunno why, one moment I was fine, then suddenly I kinda just…" he snapped his fingers "Out like a light."

Tails frowned. "So...you don't remember anything after that?"

Sonic shook his head. "Nothing. One moment I was flying the plane, next I was waking up in the sand."

"Not even when we nearly fell outta the plane?"

Tails could almost hear Sonic's mental record scratch. "When we nearly what now."

Tails suppressed the memory and a shudder. "Never mind. You don't wanna know." He turned his attention back to Professor Pickle. "If you want, I can fly us back to your lab. We don't need to worry about space since Sonic can just stand on the wing."

The man frowned in mild concern. "That doesn't seem very safe. I don't mind buying a plane ticket-"

Sonic waved him off. "Nah, don't worry about it. I've been doing it ever since I was a kid. It'll be fine." Tails nodded in encouragement, before realizing a small problem he had almost overlooked.

"Actually, Sonic, maybe you should just Chaos control the professor back." Tails piped up. He then narrowed his eyes as he watched the now fidgeting hedgehog avoid all eye contact.

"Why? What's wrong with taking the plane?" Sonic hesitantly asked.

"It'd take at least four hours to get back to Spagonia, assuming we don't take any pit stops." Tail slowly enunciated. 'Oh chaos, he lost them didn't he.' "Sonic, show me the emeralds."

Sonic sheepishly grinned as he pulled out seven, extremely dull chaos emeralds, which Tails stared at while contemplating the life choices that had led him here.

"And you didn't say anything...why?" Tails forced out.

Sonic helplessly shrugged. "It kinda slipped my mind."

Tails buried his face into his hands while Sonic awkwardly tucked away the emeralds, the two of them sighing in unison.

'This is gonna be a _long_ plane ride.'

(Four hours later)

The plane ride back was...an interesting one to say the least. It mainly consisted of both brothers indiscreetly attempting to interrogate the other, while desperately trying to figure out what the hell was going on. By the time they arrived in Spagonia, the two had pieced together a grand total of absolutely nothing. At least they could take solace in the fact that the other was just as confused as he was.

Faced with that current dead end, they decided to focus on other things instead, with Tails asking Professor Pickle about some general myths and legends from his studies, and Sonic enjoy the sight, sounds, and smells at noon...wait.

Sonic discreetly nudged Tails. "Did we get him anything to eat since we rescued him?"

Tails blinked, looking blankly at the blue hedgehog. "Uhhh…"

"Don't tell me we just shoved him onto a four hour plane flight at the crack of dawn with no food, water, or bathroom breaks."

Tails slowly brought a hand to his mouth and the two of them fell silent. In a nearby house, the theme of Curb Your Enthusiasm was faintly playing.

"Are the two of you alright?" The professor asked, causing both mobians to jolt. Sonic mentally scrambled to think of something to say, and could only hope he didn't sound as guilty as he felt.

"H-hey Professor, how about we talk about your research at lunch? Our treat."

The professor brightened up. "Why thank you! You know, there's a lovely little bistro just around this corner that sells some lovely sandwiches…"

The hedgehog turning his attention back to his brother that was now cringing at his own actions. "Chaos, I can't believe I'm worse than delta airlines." he despondently mumbled.

Sonic sighed and patted his brother's back. "At least we didn't frame him for murder." (Somewhere in the multiverse, a pig wearing a spider costume sneezed, before shrugging and going back to his business).

The duo followed the professor now happily chatting about food.

…

"These ancient documents are known as the Gaia Manuscripts. They tell the legend of a disaster that befell our planet some tens of thousands of years ago."

Said ancient documents were currently laid out haphazardly on a plastic restaurant table, which caused a few weird looks that the group reading it ignored.

"A disaster...?" Tails asked. 'Feels like a bit of an understatement.' he mentally commented.

"Quite." The professor nodded. "And according to the Gaia Manuscripts this isn't the first time the planet has been broken apart into pieces."

The two mobians glanced at each other in apprehension as the professor continued. "The cause lies at the very core of the planet. All of the phenomena we've witnessed-" ("That's one way to put it." Sonic muttered.) "are the direct result of one creature, the hyper-energy organism spawned at the planet's core: Dark Gaia."

"So, uh, how'd the planet get fixed last time?" Sonic asked.

"It is to be defeated by Light Gaia, who would rebuild the world and return Dark Gaia to dormancy, as the cycle goes."

Tails sighed in relief and leaned back against his seat. "So all we have to do is wait it out." The professor shook his head.

"Because of 's premature wake up call, it appears that Light Gaia is still dormant." Any relief was completely shot down as the two now frozen mobians stared at the professor who was decidedly _way_ too calm about the current circumstances.

Sonic nervously laughed. "Ooooookay, I guess I can try fighting Dark Gaia. It's just like Chaos but with lava, right?" He said, both his voice and heart rate five times higher than normal.

"Perhaps." Sonic sincerely hoped that the professor was joking. "Luckily, Dark Gaia has yet to be fully reborn. If we act now, we may be able to restore the planet by returning power to the chaos emeralds. By traveling to each of the temples listed in the Gaia Manuscripts, the planet's power will restore the chaos emeralds. In turn, the chaos emeralds will restore the planet and help it heal naturally."

"Really?" Sonic asked. The hedgehog fell silent, partially to think of a plan and partially because holy _hell_ was that an emotional rollercoaster. He then turned to Tails. "Maybe we should go to see Knuckles."

Tails blinked and raised an eyebrow. "But shouldn't we go find the-"

"Hear me out, hear me out." Sonic continued. "Maybe I can convince Knux to let me use the Master Emerald, go super, and beat the baddy before things get too ugly."

Tails hummed. He then held a hand to his chin, his eyes focus despite not looking at anything, and silently muttered under his breath. Abruptly he got up, and left some rings on the table. "Thank you so much for the help Professor Pickle, but we've got to get going."

"Of course, of course. The both of you are welcome to visit the library anytime." The professor responded, pleasantly waving.

With that, the duo headed off to Angel Island.

(Three days prior)

In the shrine of the Master Emerald, a lone guardian was meditating (read dozing off) on stone stairs. The duty, although important, completely lacked any 'off time', meaning that Knuckles' sleep schedule was nonexistent at best. That paired with the warm glow of the Master Emerald's energy was not helping.

And then it was gone.

The echidna's eyes snapped open as he stumbled up the stairs in the sudden dark and pressed a hand against the ancient gem. No warmth, no light, and had Knuckles not known any better he would've thought it was just another rock.

"What the hell?!"

He looked around, the island much too peaceful considering that the very energy keeping it afloat _stopped working_. With mounting nervousness, he rushed towards the edge of the island and looked down. And gaped.

The pitch black ocean he was floating over currently looked like a broken window.

"What. The genuine. Fuck." He mumbled under his breath.

He was completely frozen, his mind struggling to comprehend what he saw below. "What could caused-" he dumbly started, before smacking himself on the forehead. "Of course it was him. I swear to- that blue idiot's not a hedgehog he's the second god of destruction."

He cursed under his breath as he marched towards the communicator Tails gave him. He harshly jabbed the power switch.

"What did Sonic do this time?!" He yelled. The only response was radio static, leaving Knuckles thoroughly unnerved. Tails' communicators rarely had problems connecting transmission, and when it did it was laggy, not like whatever this was. Knuckles lips pressed into a thin line. For the first time, he wished that the island was closer to one of the land masses below it.

He hurried back to the Master Emerald. His hands pressing against the now lifeless gem as he repeated the ancient mantra again and again. "The servers are the 7 Chaos. Chaos is power... Power enriched by the heart. The controller is the one that unifies the Chaos." His words got louder and louder with each repetition until his voice became hoarse. Nothing. He couldn't even feel a spark.

He slumped to the ground and clenched his fists.

It was the end of the world, and there was nothing he could do but watch.

* * *

Eyyy, remember when I said I'd update this every month? Ha haha ha oof. I t'was just a fool who forgot that finals existed, so here I am now.

If you're cringing at how OOC everyone is and how the tone just kinda flails everywhere, don't worry, so am I. I'm not gonna try to edit this story tho, at least until it's finish cause if I do I'll never be able to finish this. I'm still gonna try to aim for an update once a month.

Soooo, yeah. Dunno what else to put here.

Thanks for reading- Gremlin


	7. knock knock its knuckles

Sonic the Hedgehog was not having a good day. He couldn't find Knuckles, he'd probably have to singlehandedly fistfight another god…

"Yo, Knucklehead, where-hrk!" … and he now owed Tails ten rings. At least his first problem was solved.

While Sonic was doubled over and wheezing from the newly acquired bruise on his gut, Knuckles took it as an opportunity to finally ask Sonic a simple question that he had on his mind for a few days:

"What in the name of the seven servers did you do this time?!"

"Oh, you know, traveled the world. Went to Spagonia." Sonic said sarcastically from where he crumpled onto the ground. "It's a lovely place, you should visit it sometime." Knuckles gritted his teeth as he marched up to the hedgehog.

A few moments later, Tails walked into a clearing and was greeted with the sight of his older brother imbedded into a palm tree and an extremely irritated echidna. "Soooo" He offhandedly started. "I'm guessing this means I won the bet?"

"Oh, shush you." Came a muffled voice from the tree. Blue legs flailed in the air, then went limp as they failed to make contact with anything. "Tails, could you-"

"Yeah, hold on." Knuckles watched as the kitsune struggled to help his brother, before nudging him out of the way and yanking the hedgehog out. He then turned towards the two with arms crossed and a deep frown.

"So," He growled, making the brothers flinch. "Does anyone want to tell me why the planet is literally in pieces?!"

"Um," Sonic started, and was once again reminded of the strange blanks in his memory that were starting to become concerningly common. "Eggman…probably did something?" He then proceeded to shrink under the stares that the other two gave him.

"Probably?!" Knuckles roared.

"Look, I don't remember, okay?!" Sonic snapped back. Knuckles looked like he was about to give a _very_ memorable retort before Tails took a step towards Sonic with an unreadable expression.

"What _do_ you remember?" The kitsune asked, his tone surprising not exasperated. In fact, it was more reminiscent of an interrogation.

"Uh, I woke up on the ground." Sonic started, then briefly paused. "Which now that I've noticed has been happening a lot lately."

"Really?" Tails said, silently begging the older mobian to continue.

"Yeah, like today, yesterday, the day before yesterday…" Sonic tapped his foot as he thought. "...I think that's it."

"Does that mean that you passed out more than once too?" Tails asked, motioning the hedgehog to continue.

"Uhhh…I think so?" Sonic said, sounding very unsure and feeling mildly like an actor in a detective movie who hadn't been given any of the lines. Or plot. All of which the younger mobian either didn't notice or ignored as he pressed on.

"When?"

Sonic sent Tails a confused look at the increasingly specific questions while wracking his memories. "In the...evenings?" He hesitantly responded, now noticing some of the patterns to his weird amnesia unconsciousness thing himself. "No, no, I think all of this has been happening every night, for like, the past half-week or so."

Tails nodded, then paced as he thought aloud. "So this probably started happening three days ago, which is when you went to fight Eggman…" His voice quieted and he mumbled under his breath. Knuckles watch the kit with a raised eyebrow, before tapping Sonic's shoulder and gesturing towards the fox. He then silently groaned when he received a shrug from the hedgehog instead of an explanation. Suddenly Tails perked up. "You've been turning into that other form every night! That's why you've been passing out and forgetting stuff! It all makes sense now!"

"Tails, literally nothing you just said makes sense." Tails jolted at Knuckle's deadpan as he was reminded of his audience, who currently looked like they were heavily questioning the kitsune's mental stability. The fox awkwardly coughed into his fist.

"Sorry, went off tangent." Tails turned to Knuckles. "The reason why Mobius is broken right now is because of a god called Dark Gaia. We were kinda hoping we could use the Master Emerald to defeat it via Super Sonic."

"Why can't Sonic just use the chaos emeralds?" Said hedgehog gulped at the echidna's question.

Sonic nervously laughed. "Well...they're...kinda…"

"Dead?" Knuckles provided. Sonic blinked.

"Yeah, how'd you-" A slew of ancient (and not so ancient) curses cut the hedgehog off. Sonic flinched as the guardian roughly grabbed his arm and marched towards the master emerald shrine. The hedgehog squirmed before twisting himself out of the echidna's grip and gingerly rubbed the circulation back into the abused limb.

He then dumbly stared at the extremely lifeless master emerald.

"Oh."

Knuckles was ready to throttle the hedgehog right then and there.

"Oh?! OH?! The master emerald is completely drained of all its chaos energy, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO BE INFINITE BY THE WAY, and all you can't say is OH?!"

Silence. Knuckles marched up to the hedgehog, then paused as he saw the hedgehog's face. It seemed strange, alien even, with how uncertain and lost it looked. The look was then broken by a smile, but it never quite left the hedgehog's eyes.

"Welp, looks like plan a's not gonna cut it, but since when do they ever?" Sonic said with strained levity. "Looks like we're fixin' this IKEA style instead."

Knuckles squinted at the blue mobian. "What."

Sonic merely shrugged. "Apparently this ain't the first time the planet's shattered like a vase, and there's some ancient instruction manual on how to put it back together. Y'know, magic rock A goes into temple B, sacrifice C will summon god D."

"And apparently head of hedgehog S gets dropped on ground G." The echidna grumbled.

"Hey, at least I was held."

There was a beat of silence.

Tails looked up from his Miles Electric that he went to retrieve to see his brother crash into another tree.

"Okay, this one I deserved." Came the muffled voice, and Tails bit back a sigh. He then turned towards the sound of approaching footsteps of an extremely annoyed Knuckles.

"Alright, since this idiot" The echidna said while jabbing a thumb in Sonic's general direction. "somehow drained both the chaos emeralds and the master emerald, you're gonna need to go with whatever the hell's plan b."

Tails nodded and turned to the plane. "Right then. We'll-" He then paused, before face palming. "-have to head back to Spagonia for the Gaia Manuscripts. Chaos, why didn't I grab them?" He muttered under his breath.

"Take me with you." Tails blinked at Knuckles' order.

"Um, what about the master emerald?"

"As of now, the master emerald is useless and with the planet being in pieces, I assume everyone's too busy to steal it. I might be able to help translate or find things."

"Woah, am I concussed or did Knuckles actually called the master emerald useless? Didn't know one of Dark Gaia's powers was freezing hell over." Sonic chimed in as he walked over. Knuckles clenched his fist.

Tails pinched the bridge of his nose. "Guys, please don't." Heaving a sigh, He turned to his Miles Electric and opened up a map. He mumbled to himself as he calculated the travel times, then stiffened when he realized what the arrival time would be. He suddenly rushed to the two older mobians and started dragging them to the plane.

"Hey!"

"Wait, what are you-"

"Nope, nada, nyet, non, nein, I am _not_ going through that again." The fox staunchly stated. He then practically shoved the other two onto the biplane and immediately turned on the engine.

Sonic scrambled to get a grip on the plane wing as Tails took off. "Woah, what's the rush?" He asked. He was then taken aback as the fox proceeded to respond without separating his teeth even once.

"I absolutely _refuse_ to fly with your night form again."

The rest of the trip was rendered silent as two older mobians awkwardly watched their pilot completely dead set on outflying the sun.

…

When the Tornado landed on a (sunlit! Just barely though, but still!) grass hill of Spagonia, Tails was filled with relief. He idly wondered if this was what the first successful skydiver felt when their parachute worked.

When Sonic hopped off of the plane wing and shook out his aching arms, the hedgehog was filled with worry. He idly wondered if he should start investing in a child psychiatrist.

When Knuckles climbed out of the plane, he heaved a long suffering sigh. As fun as it was watching the blue idiot struggle to not get blown off the plane wing, once again the echidna found himself completely out of the loop. He idly wondered if Tails' offer to install internet onto Angel Island was still open.

All three trains of thought immediately crashed and burned when Sonic collapsed onto the ground.

Knuckles rushed towards the hedgehog but was wordlessly blocked by Tails.

The echidna tried to nudge the younger mobian out of the way. "Tails, I'm trying to help...him." Knuckles' voice trickled away as his eyes widened, and Tails took the moment to look back.

Both mobians watched frozen as purple tendrils of smoke enveloped Sonic. His peach arms bulged impossibly as it was suddenly covered with navy fur. White gloves ripped apart to reveal large unnaturally gray hands with deadly claws. As the smoke cleared away, the figure revealed was nothing short of monstrous.

The two mobians instinctively stepped back and watched warily as the figure groggily sat up.

"Sonic? Are you okay?" Tails hesitantly asked. The former hedgehog looked at the twin tailed fox.

"Sonic? Sonic…" It said, testing the word in its mouth. "Okay, I guess I'm Sonic. Nice to meet you, Tails." It held out its hand with a friendly? smile. The other two mobians could only blankly stare at it. Its smile faltered. "Am...am I doing it wrong?"

"What?" Tails dumbly asked.

"I was trying to do what you were doing. On that plane wing." The now navy mobian supplied, pointing at a wing of the bi-plane.

"What? Oh. Ooooooh, riiiiight." Tails said. "That was back in Mazuri."

"Maybe? Dunno what Mazuri is, but we were in that sandy place trying to get Professor Pickle back home." Sonic? added with a smile.

"Alright." Knuckles cut in. "Alright. If you two are done reminiscing will someone PLEASE TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON."

"Right, sorry." Tails sheepishly replied. "This is Sonic's night form. Every time the sun sets he turns into this. I think."

Knuckles shot the kit a look. "You _think_."

"I mean, this is the first time I've actually seen it happen." Tails responded, shrugging.

Knuckles buried his face into his hands and tilted his head back with a deep breath. He then threw his hands into the air and started pacing. "Okay. Okay. The world's somehow in pieces, the chaos emeralds somehow lost its infinite energy, and Sonic now turns a monster every night. This might as well be happening."

Tails tentatively raised a finger. "Uh, Knuckles?"

The echidna sharply pivoted to face the younger mobian. "Is the planet gonna launch itself into the sun next? Don't tell me the moon's going to crash into mobius. I swear to the seven servers if Sonic somehow managed to drag Chaos into this-"

"The library's the other way." Tails said. Crickets obliviously chirped as Knuckles abruptly fell silent.

The echidna could only grace the fox (and the whole situation in general) with an extremely tired groan.

* * *

Gremlin: y'all ever try juggling three characters before realizing that you can't juggle. Like-

me: so whose perspective is this gonna be in?

my single remaining brain cell: yes

me: but i don't know how to-

brain cell *cocks gun*: i said yes

oof, anyway, thanks for reading

(also, as a reminder to myself, i'm gonna try to aim for at least 1800+ words per chapter.

also, also, y'all mind if i just use a crap ton of adverbs cause i have no idea how to actually write descriptively, cause i do. if i ever finish this fic the editing process is gonna be hell. please send help.)


End file.
